Vegetarians live longer and prosper: study
研究：素食者更健康長壽

Vegetarian activists protest during the first international Veggie Pride in Geneva, Switzerland on May 18.五月十八日，素食提倡者在瑞士日內瓦舉行的第一屆國際「素食驕傲」活動上，表達內心的聲音。

Photo: AFP照片：法新社

Want to live longer and keep the grim reaper at bay? A new study suggests dropping meat from your diet.

After following more than 70,000 men and women over six years, researchers at Loma Linda University in California concluded that those who followed vegetarian lifestyles had reduced rates of mortality.

After categorizing study participants into five dietary groups — non-vegetarians, semi-vegetarians, pescatarians, lacto-ovo vegetarians, and vegans — authors found that vegetarian groups — the lacto-ovo-vegetarians and the vegans — tended to be older, more highly educated, and more likely to be married, drink less alcohol, smoke less, exercise more and be thinner.

Mortality rates were also lower among those who followed meat-free diets — 12 percent lower than their carnivorous counterparts. This was particularly noteworthy among male participants, who showed a significant reduction in cardiovascular and ischemic heart disease-related deaths, researchers point out.

It is the latest study to tout the benefits of a meat-free diet. Earlier this year, researchers from the University of Oxford found that the risk of hospitalization or death from heart disease is 32 percent lower in vegetarians than their counterparts.